2 Year Old Taking 1+ Hr to Go to Sleep B/c Needs to "Go Potty"

We went through this same process with my son and I agree with Maggie's advice. Take him to the potty everytime he requests, but do not give him any more attention than neccessary after the first time. You will still be re-enforcing the potty training, but the extra attempts will be really boring and not worth the effort.

He is definitely doing this for attention, but it is best not to turn it into a power struggle because that will take the fun out of his new acheivement (using the potty)and cause more problems down the road. He will learn faster and more effectively if you let him decide that the extra potty trips are not worth it rather than have you force the choice on him.

Good Luck = )

Boy, this sounds familiar! We went through this 2 weeks ago. What we did (which fortunately worked), was that we have responded to every "false alarm", but turned the lights way down in the bathroom, and stood in the hall while he "went". We were loving, but gave him virtually no attention for calling us. We didn't say anything cribside, just picked him up and put him on the potty. When he called out that he was finished, we thanked him for calling us and unceremoniously took him back to bed. We also put his jammies on without underpants, and told him we expected him to pull his jammies on and off (even less attention)
It took probably three nights of torture (on us, not him), but now he either falls right to sleep, or calls us once after he is in bed, and he goes that time. Good Luck! Hope this works for you, too.

I would jump on this opportunity to fully potty train your son. It sounds like he is very interested. We used www.3daypottytraining.com when our son was 22 month and have had very few accidents after the 3 days. It is very normal to use the potty as an excuse to stay up later, it will quickly fade if you don't show a reaction to it (our son did this for about 5 days after we started the potty training). Tonight try telling him that it is fine for him to let you know when he need to go at night, but that you are on to his little game of using the potty to stay up later. I think you will be surprised at his ability to understand.

Jamie-

He's found a way to take control - and it's not in a good way. He knows you'll respond everytime he needs to go potty, so he's using it to stay awake.

Since you have him in a diaper or pull-up at night, I would have him go potty before getting into bed. Tell him this is the only time he can go until morning. When he wants to get up again, let him know that he already went and it's time to sleep.

He's going to get upset. It has worked in the past to get upset so he's going to do it. Don't let it work. If he strips, put his clothes back on and put him back into bed.

It won't take long and he'll get it! As long as you don't give in.

Good luck and God Bless-
C.